In the world today there are millions of people who are unable to communicate with others due to speech and hearing defects. Those with speech defects may be severely impaired so as to be unable to utter an intelligible sound or may be slightly impaired so as to be unable to orally communicate at a particular time during particular stress conditions. Individuals with hearing defects also experience similar problems in trying to communicate effectively with others. Although able to many cases to orally communicate a thought to another individual, the hearing-impaired individual must read lips or resort to sign language to receive and understand a communication.
Thus, a serious problem exists for these individuals to be able to effectively communicate with other impaired individuals, as well as those not so impaired.
Orally communicating thoughts and ideas become a problem for the non-impaired individual, as well, where a different language is spoken by the other individuals engaged in conversation. Quite often this problem is alleviated by the fact that both individuals are able to read a similar language but cannot speak that same language. When visiting a foreign country the language problem is prevalent in the most basic of communicative contacts; i.e.: hailing a taxi; ordering a meal; and the like.
In all of these communicative situations the need to communicate is one which can be considered a portable need. That is, the use of fixed devices in an office or home serves no useful function when the communication contact occurs on the street or in a restaurant or at a social gathering, etc. There is, therefore, a need for individuals to have a device that is portable and self-contained and which can be used to communicate with another in the simplest communicative contact. Such a device is the essence of the invention described herein.